Thousands of angry customers swarmed into their banks for a second straight day on Tuesday to get their credit card details changed and to file complaints about the credit card firms' mismanagement of their personal information.
Their actions follow in the wake of what has become one of the biggest information leaks in the nation's history, with up to 20 million people in Korea having been affected.

"I've been waiting here for more than an hour and I'm dumbfounded by the whole situation. Financial institutions are responsible for protecting our assets and personal information not leaking it. They should compensate for any damages that customers may incur."

Concerns are rising that customers' information may have fallen into the hands of scammers, with reports emerging that suspicious and unintended financial transactions have been made on accounts.

"The leak is one of the worst in the country's history, with the personal data, bank account details, addresses and credit ratings of millions of people now out in the open."

The three card firms -- KB Kookmin Card, NH NongHyup Card, and Lotte Card -- said they will fully cover any financial losses suffered by their customers from scams linked to the data leak.
On Wednesday, the government will announce a set of preventive measures to stop similar data leaks from recurring as well as toughened penalties for those involved in leaking data.
These are expected to include stronger monitoring of staff at financial companies involved in customer data management, tougher regulations to prevent financial firms from sharing client data with their affiliates, and stronger punitive measures on financial institutions and their executives in case of data leaks.
This information leak comes less than one month after the personal data of some 130-thousand Standard Chartered Bank Korea and Citibank Korea customers was stolen.
Ji Myung-kil, Arirang News.